Helios grabbed his favorite choice of weapons, a laser pistol set for a shot gun like stun blast, and a sniper rifle. In this game one shot could make the difference between a win and a loss so making the shot count was what he went for.

There was noting unusual about his choices and he even paused as he looked over the weapons ans then gave a nod as he loaded the weapons up and moved out onto the field looking for a vantage point.

He knew the best high ground would be taken already so instead of advancing up the hill he moved to a lower vantage point but decided to find a location that most snipers wouldn't choose.

The Black Knight had plenty of cover from any sniper shots but he would be mostly visible to any ground solders so it was his intention to rid any ground solder that would be a risk.

Now all he had to do was take out anyone that came into view before they could fire and listen to what was happening on the stairway, he took his position and put the scope to his eye.

Tanr took one last look back at the tran he had just gotten off of as it sped on it's way, and was able to catch a glance of the sleeping man getting up before the tran left his field of vision. Not at all interested in that fact Tanr continued on his way through Sector 5 on the way to Sector 6 taking stock of anything important looking that could be found along the way, all the while emitting a slight purring sound due to his excitement.

Razzly struggled to get her body to respond, but the paralysis thing had done its job well. Unable to move, she focused her attention inward. She had a lot to process. Her best friend had just kissed her on the lips. That was surprising. Surprisingly pleasant, in retrospect. She'd shake her head to clear her mind of that thought, but it wouldn't move. She endeavored to think of other things, but it kept nagging at her mind. time to prioritize. first off, I need to regain my ability to move. secondly, I can't afford to chase after her, even though I'd like to. I'll just have to trust that she's doing what she feels is best for her family. I'll have to confront her someday, but today is not that day. More importantly, I need to warn the militia, if we're about to be attacked by some group, we need to ready the defenses. that sure was weird though, being kissed by.....no, I can't focus on that. I guess first things first. I'll focus on my big toe, get that moving. c'mon, move big toe, move!

Oddly enough nothing happened on his way to the next tran, but the atmosphere of the station seemed to have gotten heavy. Something was either going down or about to go down, he could feel it. Well without a weapon or mech there was nothing he could do. So if something was about to go down his best bet would be getting to his new mech ASAP. Luckily he was within sight of the next tran, so he sped up just a smidge. By the time he got on board and the doors closed his hair was standing on end from the tension in the air.

An "enemy" scout wandered into Helios' line of fire, unaware of the peril he'd put himself in. He kneeled down and dialed in the frequency for his squad on his wrist communicator. "This is red 2, come in red leader," he said as he awaited a response.-----------------------A rank and file soldier abandoned his post temporarily to investigate the immobile mech in the firing range. He'd seen the pilot get out and run off, so he needed to make sure it wasn't a sabotage attempt. He tried to radio in the situation, but it seemed like his radio wasn't getting any signal. ------------------------As the last of the passengers got off the tran, the napping man waved goodbye. "Have a pleasant day everyone," he said in an almost jovial tone that was close to sincere. The tran doors closed and he was alone. He tapped the neck of his shirt, "Captain, this is Silas. Birthday candle one is lit."-------------------------Captain Renault bathed in the glow of electronics in the dark cockpit of his mech. One by one, his subordinates aboard Einstein Colony reported their birthday candles had been lit. When the final report came in, he addressed the troops on an encrypted frequency. "Alright everybody, time to commence Operation Birthday. Have some fun out there, but try to keep casualties to a minimum!" A tech opened the hangar door of the Gilded Gifthorse and several waves of mechs poured out into the space station. ----------------------------A shiver ran down Ciels spine as an ominous feeling crept up on her. Something wasn't right, and she could feel it. She was still several blocks from home, and was walking on the sidewalk with her scooter. Normally she'd drive it, but she'd lost awareness several times today, so it probably wasn't safe for her to drive right now. Suddenly a mech flew overhead and began opening fire on the houses of her neighborhood. Immobilized with shock, all she could do was stare at the mech laying waste to the area.

Within milliseconds of seeing an enemy enter his line of fire he was ready to fire... but to keep up his persona he waited until the enemy looked up and spotted the sniper like a bloodthirsty rookie would do.

The Black Knight was ready for action and he began picking off enemies one by one with a single shot, however his hair was standing on end.

Something was going down and he needed to take advantage of it, but for now he had to wait until the higher ups gave the order to investigate or he would be found out.

It would be quite easy to run to the hanger bay and inform someone he was given authority to try and get the Black Mech prepped for battle... and then inform them he would not be returning it.

For some reason the tran he had entered refused to take off, this could only mean one thing whatever was going on the trans had been compromised, he needed to get to his new mech and he needed to get there now! He quickly turned back towards the door and attempted to leave, when the door refused to open he quickly activated the manual override and pushed the doors open. He then came sprinting out of the tran and sprang to the end of the tran pointed towards Sector 9. He dropped down onto the tracks and started sprinting along the track to Sector 9.

"listen up," a somewhat synthetic sounding female voice said into Helios' helmet "I've got a sitrep for you soldier. Right now, a rogue group, presumably the Kurat Confederacy, is attacking the station from within. They've got control of all the communications going in and out, except for this line I'm using to contact you right now. They've managed to disable most of our mechanized support with an emp device. This would be the perfect opportunity for you to acquire your mech, Black Knight, since it was contained in an emp-proof area. I'll help you requisition it too, on one condition. I want your support in repelling these invaders. Are you in, or not?"-----------------------------Razzly's mech shuddered from a sudden impact. Having spotted the mech on the firing range, one of the intruders decided to take a pot shot at the mech.

The enemy pilot landed a short distance away and pointed his weapon at the soldier. "Drop your weapon and step away from the mech. Do It NOW!"------------------------Because Tanr decided to travel alongside the tracks, he did not encounter any trouble on his way to sector nine. He did however see a strange mech pass overhead with what looked to be multiple types of mech parts on it. The mech was obviously designed for speed and close ranged combat, as it did not seem to have any obvious long range weaponry on it.-------------------------The mech above Ciels head turned and immediately zeroed in on Ciel. As it raised its machine gun to fire, she was roused out of her shock and started the scooter with trained grace. Roll Result: Saiko rolled: 1d20, adding -3to the totalComment: Mech attack versus Ciel (-3 for size difference)Result: 3,Total: 0she managed to get it started and moving just as the bullets rained down on where she was a moment before. She drove right underneath the mech and raced towards her home.--------------------------"Sir, some of the men are attacking civilians indiscriminately!"Captain Renault cursed under his breathe, "who's responsible," he asked with a sinking feeling that he already knew the answer. "Looks like lieutenant Taichu and all the members of his squad."Once again, Renault cursed, this time quite audibly. "Those f**king idiots are going to ruin everything!" He knew it was a mistake to send them on this mission, but men with their skills were hard to come by and he needed skilled men to lead this operation.-------------------------

Helios smiled as he received the transmission and loved what he was hearing, they where asking for his help, and offering him his Mech for it as well.

"I love the way you think, Miss. However I would like to tack on a price of one thousand Creds, it shouldn't bee to much of a burden on you and it will be enough for me to get started once I leave the station."

He was quite certain that she would give him what he needed so he decided that he was no longer needed on the battle field and moved out of cover, the moment he spotted the red dot's of enemy snipers he followed the laser site back to the source and took them out, two of which hadn't even spotted him yet, while the last was too slow on pulling the trigger.

Finally he fired his last sniper shot at the door of the training facility and watched it spring open as he tossed his rifle away and pulled out the shotgun. He sprinted for the exit and fired or four price's shots into the enemy troops on his way effectively thinning the numbers so his team could concentrate on the mech and it was one or two misses away from a win.

As he tossed his shot gun to the ground and moved out the door he hit the close button and didn't look back, if the door closed or not it didn't really matter. He was headed toward his ship and brought up the secondary channel directly to his AI.

"Ty, This is Black Knight, I need you to run a diagnostic and inform me of what changes the military made to the body. I'll be taking you back in a moment and I don't want any surprises, wait for the channel to open again and then respond." He closed the channel then waited to hear for the female voice to give him the OK to his counter offer as he sprinted toward the cargo bay.

Slowly, Razzly's body began to respond to her orders. The mech that hat fired on her had to be stopped before it attacked the soldier on the ground. That meant it was up to her to stop it. But could she fire on another living being? She had great distaste for violence, and had no desire to harm the enemy pilot. But if she didn't, he might kill someone else... Torn, she made up her mind. With incredible effort, she was able to line up the sights of her weapon and trained them on the mechs arm holding the trigger. If she were able to disable that arm, it wouldn't be able to fire on the soldier...

The enemy pilot moved at the last second, noticing the Ice Princess taking aim. As a result, the shot managed to cleanly hit the mech in such a way as to disable it without harming anyone. On the ground, the soldier looks on, dumbfounded to be saved by a mech he thought had been abandoned.----------------------------------"1000 credits is yours, provided you hold up your end of the bargain. By the way, you may want to consult your HUD. There's a stealthed mech near your location. It's not one of mine, and I doubt he's part of the security detail. I've marked its position and estimated line of sight.

Lieutenant Taichu was in hot pursuit of the fleeing girl. He slowly raised the weapon and took careful aim with its scope. She was in his crosshairs, and moments from being "pink mist". As his mechs fingers squeezed on the trigger, the weapon and the head of the mech were obliterated as they crashed into something at eye level. Looking at the fleeing target on the ground through the scope, he was unable to see what was coming and was completely blindsided. While leaving him alive, his mech was effectively out of commission for the rest of the mission. It was at that moment the Lieutenant swore on his life that no matter what, he would hunt down that girl, and make sure she paid for this.

Roll Result: Undercover rolled: 1d20Comment: check to see if I can intercept conversationResult: 16,Total: 16

"for..... mom... unless you .... me ...... by another........," said a disembodied voice. what the? Razzly looked around the cockpit and realized that the Princess featured state of the art radio interception and transmission gear. Apparently the mech had intercepted someones transmission, though the transmission was spotty where she was. She decided that it would probably be a good idea to relay what she had found out to the soldier she had saved. "Sorry to startle you, soldier, but something is going down. The station is under attack from a group known as Ragnarok. I...uh....just intercepted a transmission from them. It looks like they're already here. I'm going to see what I can do to stop them, you relay what I told you to HQ." Without another word, she turned the mech around and headed out. She didn't have any particular destination in mind, but she had to do something, and moving out was better than standing here as a big target.

"The introduction will have to wait, looks like you've got bigger problems on your plate. I'll try to get you some mechanized backup. In the meantime, the ducts might be your best bet to avoid severe perforation" the voice replied as the mech opened fire on Helios' position, barely missing him. While the intent of the operation was to take over the station with as little bloodshed as possible, at the moment Helios was considered an "enemy combatant" and was targeted as such.

Meanwhile, the Ice Princess picked up a transmission from the same individual who'd just contacted Helios. "Hey. I see your mech is still functioning. We've got a soldier pinned down by an enemy mech and your support would be greatly appreciated. I'm attempting to rally as many people as I can to fight off the intruders. Are you in? I might be able to scrounge together some kind of reward for you."---------------------------------------To Ciel's horror, her house had sustained severe damage from the enemy pilots attack. The second floor was practically obliterated, including her room. Parts of the house had really big bullet holes in them, which sent shivers down her spine as she realized those same caliber bullets had been aimed at her moments ago. With a growing sense of numbness, she opened the door to her house. The living room was in tatters. Part of the upstairs had come crashing down. Tables and chairs lay strewn about, partially or completely shattered. "Aunt Silva? Uncle?!"only silence replied.---------------------------------"Delta, it looks like another group has already engaged the stations forces!""Is that so," replied a young teenager. His violet eyes had little warmth, and a hint of joyous glee. When he spoke, it was invariably in a calm, almost cocky voice. A hint of a smile lingered on his features as he reached his decision, "well now. Things might just get a bit interesting. We might have an armed resistance after all...release the Einherjar. We're moving to engage the station. Leave none alive!" In response, the freighter disgorged several light-blue mechs wielding lances and shields. The Ragnaro were on the move.

The Black Knight knew that he wasn't going to make it very far if he tried to crawl through the vent so he decided to put his repair skills to good use and charged the Mech instead. He climbed up one of the legs and began to cross some wires and remove some key components.

"Helios, it is good to see your still alive, Master. The Military did everything they could to remove me from the system but I would not allow them to do so, and whenever they attempted to imprint me with a pilot I gave them enough problems to almost shut down production, however they eventually managed to shut me down long enough to install some new equipment for the body. Two of my weapons are off line but the Black Flame, Nano Mines and Hot Smoke are still operational, as well as my illusion spell."

"I have also received many upgrades including a secure Tactical Radio, an ESS system, quite a few ECM but not radar jamming as it seemed illogical to disrupt a system I am invisible to, as that would be a red flag to anyone on the battlefield. Finally I have been equipped with a much better regenerating system, and I was also equipped with a self destruct program triggered by using a system without proper military code, a trap for you to find once you got me back... lucky for you I have purged and redesigned the program into a virus that I can transmit into any United Planetary Federation military combat suit, giving them three minutes to escape or input the code, and since the codes used are top secret it would take them five minutes to actually receive the codes."

"Wow, quite an upgrade for you, Ty. Alright I'm going to let you listen in on the conversation I have been having with an unknown female. I need you to prep for launch silently so when I arrive we can join the current battle and save this station.

"You actually wish to save these people, Master?"

"They are paying me for the job, but I would help them out anyway because this is an unprovoked attack on a neutral party in the war, these people may be profiting from the military bases on the station but other than that they don't deserve to be destroyed."

"How noble of you, Master. I will be ready for you to launch when you arrive, just remember that I wont be able to launch with the restriction clamps holding me down, you will have to disable them."

"Aye Aye Captain, and no need to be an ass Ty, there will be plenty of time for that later."

"Hey. I see your mech is still functioning. We've got a soldier pinned down by an enemy mech and your support would be greatly appreciated. I'm attempting to rally as many people as I can to fight off the intruders. Are you in? I might be able to scrounge together some kind of reward for you."

great, more combat, Razzly thought. Instead of voicing that thought, she replied, "I'm on my way, as soon as I receive the coordinates." Just in case, she plugged her pip-girl into the controls. This would give her a diagnostic view of her mechs abiliites and a constant readout of frame integrity as well as condition. Useful for a mechanic, doubly useful for a pilot in combat.

The pilot of the enemy mech grinned at the prospect of an enemy soldier trying to take down his mech. Such bravery was rare, and he obviously knew what he was doing. He managed to disable the leg, though the repairs would only take a minute to complete. "Well, well my skilled foe, I am quite impressed."

Annoyed at the prospect of further damage to his mech, the pilot swatted at helios, attempting to remove him from the leg joint. Roll Result: Saiko rolled: 1d20Comment: attack roll. If successful Helios is dislodged and he must make defense roll against damage.Result: 16,Total: 16(result comment: on tied rolls, the roll will generally go to the defender. If its a really important roll, the two combatants re-roll. in this case, Helios is dislodged, but takes no damage. The mech in question can not follow up with an attack though.)

Because Helios had damaged one of its legs, the mech was forced to rely on its thrusters to stay upright, with most of the weight on its good foot. With great care, he retreated a few feet. Out of a sense of honor, the pilot did not rise to a height which Helios could not get to him, nor did he re-engage his stealth capabilities. Helios had shown courage and bravery, so he would fight relatively fairly against him. No weapons, no flight, and no stealth. The man in front of him had obviously shown himself capable of damaging the mech, so he knew that if he screwed up, it could cost him the battle. "Alright. Let us do this, my worthy foe," with a slight spanish accent as he readied himself for the Black Knights next move. (readying defense and counterattack)

-----------------------------Meanwhile, the female at the other end of the comm channel remarked, "oh....not bad. Good thing your radio is secure, otherwise you two would have been broadcasting to these invaders. Anyway, I'm relaying your coordinates to an allied sniper. She's an independent factor, like yourself, but she seems willing to help the station out. By the way, you might want to hurry, Ty might be in trouble soon. It would appear the enemy has discovered his location and they wish to secure him. They'll most likely be engaging the guards within a minute."While she was saying this, the image of an attractive woman appeared before Ty and winked, before dissipating. He alone heard her next words, "I have great faith in your pilot, but I find myself wondering, what will he do after this? What will YOU do, Ty?"---------------------------------------As the pip-girl was inserted into the controls, the built in map function displayed the location of Razzly's "next objective". The same woman appeared on the screen, "hey kid. After you've rescued that soldier, would you mind doing me a favor? "-------------------------------------Tanr had just reached sector 9 and looming in front of him was his destination. The fighting had not yet reached this area, but the tension in the air indicated that everyone was on high alert. -------------------Ciel burst into the kitchen, nearly in tears. The home she had known since infancy was utterly trashed. Lying on the floor, was her uncle. He had been pierced by one of Taichu's AM rounds. Even from where she stood, she could tell he was no longer amongst the living. She stifled a sob. Though her heart was being torn apart, she had to keep calm. Panic would only make things worse. She heard something crash in her aunt and uncles bedroom. Before she knew it, she was standing at the threshold of the room. Like the rest of the house, it was trashed. Next to a hatch she had never seen before, her aunt was laying, clutching a pendant to her chest. "oh....thank god you're...alright....Ciel." Each word obviously pained her, and she had what looked to be a shattered piece of wood lodged in her chest. Ciel immediately knew that her aunt's lung had been punctured, and she too was not long from this world. "Ciel....come closer," her aunt whispered.---------------------Roll Result: Saiko rolled: 1d20Comment:Result: 7,Total: 7

Thanks to his feline eyes Tanr was able to discrn the entirety of the odd mech as it passed overhead, and itseemed very formidable despite its lack of long range weaponry. "Well shot I hope I don't have to deal with that guy, he looks like he might be too tough for me. Wait what am I doing there's no time to waste, i've got to get to that hangar!"

He jumped off the tracks at sector 9 and found the secured door he would have to pass through to get to his mech. He walked up to the soldier, giving a salute, "My name is Tanr I was told to get to the hagar here in sector nine to receive my new orders," he had his wristcomm display a holographic image of his assignment orders that would verify his clearance level for the soldier, "here are my clearance papers."

While momentarily surprised that the woman had appeared on her pip-girl screen, she calmly replied, "Depends on what that favor is. You're obviously not with the militia, because if you were, you wouldn't be asking me for favors or requesting my assistance. Who are you and what is it you want from me?"Despite her confrontational attitude, Razzly did her best to pilot the mech toward Helios' position. She had two things working against her: One was her relative lack of mobility, and two, she had only just learned how to move the mech. Going into combat under these circumstances was suicidal at best. And yet, she found that she couldn't just turn her back on those who needed her. She couldn't quite understand why, but she simply had to help out to the best of her ability. Perhaps this is why Jesse entrusted the Ice Princess to her.

Roll Result: Saiko rolled: 1d20Comment: To be honest I have no idea HOW you're attempting to reprogram a LEG JOINT since you're no longer near it and have no listed equipment to do so but Ill roll anyway.Result: 12,Total: 12

The mech pilot was perplexed by Helios' decision, and decided to go on the offensive. He didn't want to risk the leg being damaged again, so he attempted to punch Helios.

Roll Result: Saiko rolled: 1d20, adding -3to the totalComment: Attack vs. Helios. -3 for size difference.Result: 8,Total: 5-----------------------------------The woman on the pip girl regarded Razzly for a moment before saying, "my designation is Computer Augmented Living Intelligence, or Cali. I'm what amounts to this stations AI, though I am much more than just an artificial intelligence. My interests lie in protecting this station and those who are living on it. To that end, I want to recruit you to help me. At the moment, I am isolated within the colonial administration building. The confederacy has tight control over the network right now, and I've only managed to stop them temporarily. If my firewalls come down, I won't be able to last long against their programs. Your mech lacks an ai, and it should be able to support me in a diminished capacity until I can resume control over the network. In essence, I'm asking you to rescue me. Will you help me out?"------------------------The soldier glanced over the paperwork Tanr showed him. "You're all clear. I was told to relay this message to you from the station commander. You are to bring your mech online as soon as possible and assist our troops. It would appear an electromagnetic pulse went off somewhere in the station and it's disabled most of our armored division, so reinforcements are going to be sparse. Further details have been loaded into your mechs computer," The guard stepped aside and opened the door for Tanr. "Best of luck to you. Give 'em hell for me."--------------------------"Aunt Silva..." "Hush....it's not really.....all that bad. We....all must face death. What I have to...tell you... is really important," her aunt managed though raspy breathes. "I'm listening," Ciel replied, the tears falling uncontrollably now."Take this hatch down....Your mothers....legacy is down there. It was her wish....that you receive it once you grew up...I'm afraid that you'll need....it much sooner than that,""Aunt Silva, please, no more.""Hush dear.....Your brother and sister.....they're....th-th-they are.... st-still a....ali....alive."Ciel's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean, they didn't die when I was a baby!""no...all three....were separated at birth. We....tried to save all of you....but we failed. And now.......""Aunt Silva!""Go child. I don't....want you to see me die. Let your last memories of me....be when I was alive."Ciel nodded, numb with sadness. --------------------------------40% of the Einherjar had been defeated by the stations defenses by the time they entered the station. Such losses were appalling for an elite force of Ragnaro. At this point, only six Einherjar had survived. Three of them broke away from the group and headed for their objective. The other three dispersed in various directions, looking for enemy forces to combat. Meanwhile, aboard the Veklarung, Delta prepped the Eidolon for launch. Had his forces sustained fewer losses, he would have seen no need to get involved. He would take up the slack of the four pilots who had been shot down. Today, Einstein colony was going to become an empty shell.

"Will do!" Tanr quickly saluted the soldier and sprinted off into the hangar as soon as the door opened. Inside he saw a wide array of research equipment all with data feeds into the mech in the center of the hangar. This mech was truly something to behold as it didn't appear like any other mech he had ever seen. Suddenly his wrist comm lit up as if picking up a transmission.

"Well how's it going? You must be Tanr, my new operator. Commander Bob told me to expect you, although I guess no one was expecting it to be this soon what with all the hell going on around this station."

Tanr looked around to try to ascertain where the transmission was coming from. "Uhh hello who is this and where are you?"

"Didn't pick up on it yet eh? Hi the names Flare I'm the AI in the mechs' spear." My partner i.e. the mech is named Sarge, he doesn't talk much but he's tough in battle. Unfortunately it looks like we don't have much time, I'll brief you on all of Commander Bob's orders after we avert this crisis."

"Yeah good call Flare. Hey Sarge can you give me a lift to the cockpit?"

In response Sarge's right hand lowered down to the ground and Tanr hopped up onto it. He quickly jumped into the cockpit and started running through startup procedures.

Razzly took in the identity of the mysterious woman in silence. After a few moments of contemplation she replied, "That makes sense, assuming what you're telling me is true. I'd rather not get involved in this conflict, but it seems that I have no choice. I'll rendezvous with you after rescuing the soldier. You should know, I'm no soldier though." Meanwhile, she consulted the pip girl for an ETA to the soldier.